A project to alleviate congestion at the intersection of Bridge and Shoulders Hill roads will be able to move forward with land acquisition following Suffolk City Council’s approval.

The city was at risk of losing at least $14 million in SMART Scale funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation for the project if council did not approve it, City Manager Patrick Roberts said following a public hearing on an ordinance to approve land acquisition.

Council approved the land acquisition for the project in a 7-0 vote, with Mayor Linda T. Johnson abstaining.

The project would widen Bridge Road from four to six lanes along about a one-mile stretch, beginning about 2,000 feet west of the intersection to about 3,300 feet east of the intersection. It would also widen Shoulders Hill Road from two to four lanes for about 1,500 feet south of the intersection, and there would be minor improvements on Knotts Neck Road for about 300 feet north of the intersection.

Currently, more than 35,000 vehicles per day move along westbound Bridge Road, with about 17,000 vehicles daily going through Shoulders Hill Road. By 2042, city officials estimate traffic to possibly double on Bridge Road, and increase by about 50 percent on Shoulders Hill Road.

Added turn lanes will also be a feature of the project. Triple turn lanes from westbound Bridge Road onto Shoulders Hill Road are slated to be put in, along with a free-flow right turn lane from northbound Shoulders Hill Road onto Bridge Road, additional right and left turn lanes on Bridge Road, a left turn lane on Shoulders Hill Road and a shared right and left turn with a through-lane on Knott’s Neck Road.

Just one person spoke during a March 20 public hearing, with the only question being whether other designs had been considered.

Roberts said that due to already approved SMART Scale money from VDOT, the city would neither be able to acquire the right-of-way for the project nor build the improvements if it didn’t approve the ordinance with the current design for the project. A new design for the project would require it to be rescored.

Roberts said he has consulted with VDOT, and with the project 60 percent through the design phase, and the city has followed a process prescribed at the state and federal level.

“If City Council were to not proceed with the design at this time, if you want to go back and re-evaluate additional alternatives, the project will be need to be rescored for competitive SMART Scale dollars and we will lose $14 million,” Roberts said.

Roberts said the cost of the project could be as much as $28 million, as stated in the city’s current Capital Improvements Program and Plan, with $17.1 million in state, federal and local money already appropriated for the project, and another $11.4 million combined for fiscal years 2020 through 2022.

“As we get closer to utility relocation and completing right-of-way, we’ll be able to hone in on the total cost of the project, but the bulk of the cost of the project is paid for with SMART Scale money,” Roberts said.

Acting Director of Public Works L.J. Hansen said the North Suffolk intersection cannot currently handle the amount of traffic going through it.

He said the heaviest traffic comes in the morning and afternoon rush hours. Hansen said traffic backs up due to a restricted right turn lane from Shoulders Hill Road onto Bridge Road. Though signal timing in the mornings has been adjusted to help with this, Hansen said doing so backs up eastbound traffic.

The reverse problem happens in the evening, Hansen said, with traffic coming from the east turning south onto Shoulders Hill Road. With turn lanes that are not long enough, traffic backs up into the through lanes and causes longer backups.

“The intersection doesn’t fare very well when there’s an issue with the Monitor-Merrimac (Memorial Bridge-Tunnel),” Hansen said. “We have a lot of problems when we have the Monitor-Merrimac plugged up and traffic is re-routed trying to get over to the James River Bridge.”

Preliminary engineering work is set to end April 1, according to the timeline for the project, with right-of-way acquisition scheduled to take more than two years before the nearly two-year process to make the intersection changes begins in December 2021.